


I See Fire

by Belsmomaus



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Cuddling, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hux is having none of his shit, I've been told it's not as tragic as expected, Kylo is being difficult, Major character death - Freeform, Post TFA, Protective!Hux, Protective!Kylo, can be considered pre-relationship, it's not really defined
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 10:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8324182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belsmomaus/pseuds/Belsmomaus
Summary: "Leave the base at once and come to me with Kylo Ren. It is time to complete his training."That’s what Snoke wanted him to do. And Hux wouldn’t disappoint him even further after the disaster all around him. He would find that insufferable idiot and bring him back.Hux hadn’t expected to find Ren heavily wounded.He had expected even less to find himself troubled by that.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This happens when I listen to music in the car. One simple line from Ed Sheeran's "I see fire" was enough and this idea was born.
> 
> And a big big Thank You to Padblack who was so kind to read this and comment on it, even though her interest in Kylo and Hux ranges somewhere between indifference and dislike.

 

 

Glowing lines ran across the snow beneath him, like molten gold, branching out greedily. The rich yellow and orange contrasted the dark features of trees and reflected off the myriad of tiny ice crystals and snowflakes. It was beautiful.

Outrageously beautiful.

His life’s work, falling to pieces.

“General, we can’t pinpoint the signal. There’s too much interference from radiation.”

Hux turned around, facing one of the troopers he’d taken with him on this mission. Part of him was thankful for the distraction from watching his career turn to dust, part of him wanted to watch. Wanted to face his failure and let it burn into his retinas, into his mind. Forever. To punish himself or simply to acknowledge the horribly beauty of destruction.

“What’s the best you can give me?”

“An approximately 100 yards radius, Sir.”

Hux didn’t let his frustration show. “Alright. Bring us down within the area or as close as possible and have your men ready to search. I want the pilot on stand-by and the engines running. I want this ship in the air the moment we’re back on board!”

The trooper nodded and Hux stepped past him to get to the boarding ramp. He’d oversee this mission personally.

_Leave the base at once and come to me with Kylo Ren. It is time to complete his training._

It was an order from the Supreme Leader after all. Maybe the last he’d ever get after his spectacular failure of underestimating the resistance. He’d take full responsibility for that. But Ren had played his part as well. If it weren’t for his needless fixation on the scavenger girl they’d be on their way to Skywalker by now.

A group of troopers took up position around him. Then they touched down. The ship was vibrating beneath his feet, the hull groaning softly. He ignored it. He already knew that time was of the essence.

The moment the hatch opened he was outside, the snow crunching beneath his boots and the shaking of the ground beneath him even more pronounced than inside the ship. With quick gestures and commands he sent his men to spread out into the dark forest and look for their commander.

His co-commander.

As if Ren had ever done anything to deserve that title.

Nevertheless, it was his job to find the man. To tidy up yet another of the imbecile’s messes. He’d been forced to share his greatest successes of his recent career with that gloomy figure with the temperament of a five year old and now even his greatest failure had to revolve around Ren. He could strangle him with his bare hands for ruining everything. And for a second, just for a second, he even indulged in the thought. Letting himself imagine how his gloved hands closed around Ren’s pale, vulnerable neck. How Ren would struggle as the pressure increased. How…

He shook his head. _Not now!_

With quick and sure steps he hurried out into the forest, squinting against the falling snow and ignoring the cold wind threatening to crawl under his greatcoat and biting at his face and ears. There was a distant rumble as yet another part of the planet crumbled. The air smelled strange; thick and heavy from whatever gasses drifted up from within the planet’s core. From within his weapon.

He stumbled against a tree as the ground lurched beneath him. And suddenly the tree to his left was gone, tumbling into black nothingness until it hissed and a warm glow rose from beneath. There was a giant tear right through the crust of the planet not far to his left. He hadn’t even noticed.

Quickly he stepped away, unwilling to tempt his fate even further. Until something caught his eye. Ruffled snow, compacted in certain areas, swept away in others. And footprints. Right next to dark splotches that could only be blood.

There’d been a fight here, no doubt.

He looked around more closely, willing his eyes to penetrate the darkness and the falling snow. It didn’t take him long to identify the crumpled, black heap amidst the snow as the Knight of Ren.

“Over here!” he bellowed into the dark forest to get the attention of his men. With their trackers not working the old fashioned “follow my voice” would have to do.

In the meantime he hurried over to Ren. The closer he got the clearer he could see the blood,

painting the snow around him almost black in the dim light. And Ren wasn’t moving. At all.

_Shit!_

He was suddenly very aware of his heartbeat, pounding in his ears. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Ren should’ve been barking at him for being late, for not needing saving, something like that and Hux would’ve strangled him. If not with his hands then with his words. He couldn’t step in front of Snoke reporting yet another failure.

And yet that wasn’t the reason his chest felt too tight. It wasn’t what tugged at his insides. Uncomfortably. Relentlessly.

It was the stillness that got to him. Kylo Ren was threatening, impatient, irascible. Irrational. Annoying. Never motionless and quiet. Never that. It was surprisingly unnerving.

“General?”

His eyes shot up but he couldn’t see anything or anyone yet. “I’m over here!” he shouted back into the direction the address had come from. “I found him!”

He finally reached the black figure. And gasped.

There was a giant gash running across Ren’s face, burned into it by a lightsaber, no doubt. It had missed his eye only by inches. His long robe was missing, his black clothes glistened with blood and melting snowflakes. There were rips in the fabric in more places than Hux cared to count and his face was so damn pale, even the snow seemed to hold more color.

He knelt down, his apprehension an unwelcome surprise.

The planet groaned around them, shaking in his last breaths and yet, for a second, he didn’t care. He only watched that pale face as he pulled off one of his gloves and placed his fingers against the cold skin of Ren’s neck. He couldn’t feel a thing. Not with the cold that numbed his senses and not with the constant rumbling all around.

He could see the flutter of eyelids, though. And he could hear the soft groan and the uncomprehending “Hux?”.

Ren was  alive!

The pressure around his chest eased up a bit, letting him breathe again with relief. Not that he’d admit that. Ever.

“General?”

He turned and this time he could make out white figures in the distance between the darkness of the trees. He waved his hand and shouted back, only concentrating back on Ren when he was sure that they had seen him.

Ren’s face was scrunched up in pain, at least the left part of it, the right side wasn’t moving much with all those muscles burned. It was gruesome, hard to look at. And yet Hux couldn’t look away either.

Ren’s breathing was labored and both of his hands were pressed against the left side of his stomach now.

“I see the girl bested you yet again. Aren’t you supposed to be trained in all kinds of combat?” Hux wasn’t expecting an answer. Yet it was their usual way of communicating, biting words, rubbing each other’s failures in, criticizing, humiliating. But this time his tone just wouldn’t match his words. His voice was soft, soothing.

It was confusing and yet he had no control over it, which in itself was frightening.

“I killed him!”

The words were pressed out in one go, followed by rasping, painful sounding intakes of breath. And those dark eyes were looking at him, shining with something that he couldn’t name, couldn’t understand. Something intense and sad and important and broken. Ren looked… _lost_.

Hux had to turn away, telling himself that he was only checking how far the troopers were still away. They were closing in on their position fast, just as yet another rumble sounded, this time not so far away. Only seconds later the ground shook, the harsh vibrations ripping a pained cry from Ren’s lips. Snow was raining down heavier from the trees, shaken loose by the very forces that ripped this planet apart.

He couldn’t wait for his men to get here, they needed to leave. _Now_!

“Okay, time for lazing about is up. We need to move!“

And with those words he put his glove back on then grabbed Ren’s left arm and pulled him up into a sitting position. A harsh gasp was the only reaction he got. So he placed the arm across his shoulder and grabbed for Ren’s right side, trying to haul the other up.

Hux wasn’t weak, in fact his body was in top shape and he took much pride in that, but he could only do so much with what nature – or better his parents’ genes – had given him. And Kylo Ren wasn’t just taller than him he was also well-built and damn heavy. Even though Ren tried to get his feet under him, they barely managed to get up at all and as soon as they were standing Hux just knew this wouldn’t last.

Ren’s head was hanging limply against his own, his breathing so fast and harsh that Hux couldn’t tell if he was gasping or crying but lacking the energy for a louder sound. The brunet’s legs were shaking, forcing him to renew his grip and taking even more of the other’s weight onto him.

“Get a grip on yourself, Ren! We need to leave! Now! So get your damn legs moving, you big useless lump!”

It worked. At least for three steps. Then Ren’s left leg buckled under him.

Hux tumbled as suddenly all of the knight’s weight pressed against him. His balance tipped and a second later pain exploded in his left shoulder as he crashed into a tree. At least it gave him enough stability to get his balance back and keep Ren upright.

There was a pained groan right next to him, then a soft movement, just a slight lifting of the head. “Leave me!”

“What?” Hux head turned violently at the panted words. He’d understood them well enough. He found himself staring right into a pair of glassy dark eyes that held his gaze with insufferable stubbornness.

“Go! Save… yourself!”

Hux rolled his eyes. “Enough with the dramatics now!”

“I’m not… worth it…”

This time Hux pierced the other with his icy stare, feared by many of his subordinates. “I know! And now shut up and get moving or I’ll have the med-droids sew your lips shut as soon as we’re back on the _Finalizer_!”

Surprisingly Ren was quiet after that.

He pushed them away from the tree and they managed yet another few steps. He shouted orders at his men that he needed help to carry Ren back to the ship and that one of them should hurry back and activate their emergency med-droid since Ren’s condition was serious. It was just when the knight’s legs buckled again and his troops were almost upon them that the ground beneath them growled and reared up. Hux found himself on the floor even before he knew he was falling, Ren next to him shaking in pain. Or just in rhythm with the heavily shaking ground.

He scrambled up and watched as a giant tear ripped through the earth in front of him. It opened up like a hungry mouth, devouring everything that tumbled past its massive lips. Big clumps of earth and stone broke off around the edge of the new cliff and fell inside, taking one of his men down with them, his screams ending rather quickly. Trees tipped and plunged into the abyss and the ground moved, widening the crack further.

The air grew even thicker. And hotter. The snow on the edges was already melting. Bright orange light danced across the raw insides of the gaping wound along the planet’s crust, a harbinger of incredible power.

A power he’d once controlled.

Not anymore. The beast was free now. And it didn’t care for its master.

Hux scrambled back to his feet, his muscles working at their limits to compensate for the tremors beneath him.

This wasn’t good, but it also wasn’t the end. His eyes scanned his surroundings quickly, following the line of the crack. To his right it joined the other abyss he’d nearly fell into earlier but to his left it seemed to become narrower.

“General? Are you okay?”

He nodded then shouted back. “We’ll have to walk around it.”

He didn’t wait for the trooper’s reaction, instead he turned, bent down towards Ren and grabbed his arm. Maybe he should try and throw Ren across his shoulder and carry him through the woods. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hold the other’s weight – especially on shaky ground – but that way he could at least balance the weight properly. And hey, adrenaline was known to awaken hidden strengths and he certainly couldn’t complain about a lack of adrenaline right now.

But the moment he touched Ren’s arm, the man jerked back and pushed him off. His eyes were wild and his hair blowing into his face by the wind and that ghastly wound seemed to rip his face apart just as this planet got ripped apart.

“No! You’re not… I won’t let you do this!” Ren gasped, his right hand still outstretched.

Suddenly Hux was pushed back by an invisible force, skidding across the snow and up in the air until his boots lost contact with the ground.

“ _Stop it_!” he bellowed.

It wasn’t necessary. Ren’s hand was shaking so badly and the concentration on his face slipping more and more into an expression of struggle and pain that he wasn’t surprised when he was suddenly released merely two feet from where he’d stood before. He wasn’t really sure if Ren had wanted to push him into the heart of the planet or maneuver him back to safety on the other side. At this moment he actually didn’t care, other than that it had been a total waste of time as well as Ren’s reserves.

He stepped back and grabbed that still shaking arm, hard and with no regard for the man’s desperate gasping for breath. “Now stop being a drama queen and _cooperate_ for once!”

As he pulled this time the knight actually helped as much as he could with getting to his feet. He even barely put up any resistance as Hux pushed his right shoulder into the right side of Ren’s hip and struggled upright. There was a loud groan as Ren practically folded in half over him and one of the man’s hands clawed into the fabric of his coat right at his ass.

There was no time for dignity. For neither of them. So he ignored the strange feeling at his rear, didn’t think about what parts of Ren his hands were holding on to and hurried forward as fast as his legs would let him. But he couldn’t help noticing that the thigh he was clutching was slick and sticky with blood.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the troopers follow him just on the other side of the crevice. He made surprisingly good way – no doubt because of all the adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream – and Ren’s obvious and overdue surrender to the whole situation. Although the air got harder and harder to breathe, filling up with poisonous gasses, most likely due to the boiling energy of the sun right beneath them.

He managed to balance himself against a tree as the earth shook again beneath them then headed on with quick and slightly unsteady steps. And increasingly harsh breaths.

Almost there.

Almost.

He felt the crack before he heard it. On instinct he fell back, using another tree to hold on to – and to keep him upright.

With a deafening rumble the ground opened up again, throwing yet another obstacle into his way. Maybe the planet was doing it on purpose. He shielded his face against the immense wave of heat that was released. From behind the cover of his arm he glanced around, assessing the situation.

The new crevice crossed with the one from before and ran out into the forest roughly in the direction of the first one. The only reason he knew that this one didn’t join up with the first one was that he was still here and not already falling into the monster he created, along with Ren and the piece of planet’s crust he was currently standing on.

So there still was a way out of this. In theory.

Going around this new gap would take them even further away from the shuttle. It would take way too much time. Time they didn’t have. The planet was falling apart, faster than he could run. Faster than his shuttle would be able to get away.

He breathed out, slowly. Deliberately. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew when a battle was lost.

But strangely enough that knowledge filled him with calm.

Suddenly everything was clear and he knew what he had to do. He was still a commander after all, and he’d at least make sure that his men were safe.

They were uncertain at first when he shouted at them to get back to the shuttle and leave the planet at once. Unwilling to leave their commander – both their commanders – behind.

“Safe yourselves! That’s an order!”

Even that took a moment to get them to leave, but an order was an order and he knew that his troops would never question it. He watched them retreat and he really hoped they’d make it. He abhorred wasting ressources.

Ren started struggling now, weakly hitting him against his back and his side. “You fool! You stupid… _stupid_ … fool!”

With every word his usually deep voice got raspier and breathier.

Hux held onto the tree trunk and knelt down. Carefully he pulled a rather unresponsive, heavily gasping Kylo Ren from his shoulder. Maybe Ren was right. Maybe he was a fool. Maybe this whole endeavor had been foolish.

It didn’t matter now.

Panting from exertion – and the increasingly more difficult to breath air – he sank down and leaned against the tree, pulling the shaking form of Ren close against his chest. The man was in shock, probably from the bloodloss. Or he was simply cold after spending who knows how long in the snow without his robe.

“Fool…”

Ren gasped yet again and still he found the strength to hit his fist against Hux’s chest. Twice. Hux barely felt it. Then Ren stilled. Before he finally pressed closer, letting his head rest against Hux‘ shoulder and one hand flat against his chest, buried beneath the lapel of his great coat.

And for a moment Hux simply wondered how it was possible that it was still snowing. Heat was pushing upwards out of every crack in the planet and yet it was still snowing, as if the planet refused to acknowledge its impending doom.

“Why?”

The voice was so soft he barely heard it at all through the noise all around.

He frowned. “Why what?”

There was no answer. The other simply continued to tremble against him and Hux found himself rubbing his hands along Ren’s back and arm.

Something nudged against him. Not physically, but- a soft touch in his- mind? And then he heard him, heard Ren’s voice right inside his head. Even there it sounded weak, strained, as if pushing his voice into Hux’ head had taken even more energy out of him than he could spare.

_Why didn’t you leave me? You should’ve saved yourself._

There was more than words, though. Before the connection broke again Hux could actually _feel_ the other’s confusion and regret. And the overwhelming agony that wrecked his body. And the comfort he took from being held, from feeling a gentle touch for once.

Diffuse yellowish light danced around them, flickered against the shadows and the trees like a camp fire. A treacherous illusion and yet- with the light and endless darkness of the universe above him, dotted with tiny, light freckles of stars, it looked… nice.

Hux thought about Ren’s question, all the while keeping up the soft, rubbing motions of his hands. The answer was surprisingly easy to find.

Both of them had made mistakes that have led to this. Starkiller Base had been _his_ big project, his life’s work and he had failed. Just as Ren had. And – if he wanted to or not, if he was willing to acknowledge it or not – Ren _was_ a part of his life.

And maybe it was stupid or even childish, but if he had to part with the biggest achievement of his life he at least needed that other part of his life back at his side. Losing both would’ve left him empty.

In the end fate had dealt him yet another hand.

They’d all lose.

It seemed strangely fair.

And out of nowhere there was suddenly this verse of a poem ghosting through his mind. A poem he’d read a very long time ago, he couldn’t even remember the rest of it, let alone the title or the author. Just this one verse.

And somehow it was the perfect answer to Ren’s question.

“If this is to end in fire then we should all burn together.”

Maybe they should.

Brought down by their own failures.

Devoured by the very weapon he’d created.

It was indeed strangely poetic.

Ren froze for a second, as if he wanted to say something or argue with him, call him a fool again, but then he merely sighed and sagged even closer against him, his body cold and heavy.

And Hux held him as breathing got harder and harder and the snow was melting all around him, the heat scorching his skin.

It was a relief when he felt the ground lurching. The sickening sensation of falling settled into his stomach and his hands closed harder around Ren, unwilling to let him go.

The dark night sky vanished, replaced by bright light and burning energy.

Suddenly he remembered. The title from that poem.

_I see fire_

And he laughed.

Laughed at the irony.

Until that laugh died with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I've taken the liberty of making a poem out of the song. I thought that would fit Hux better. Not sure why...
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Hope you like it.


End file.
